Friday, 3 December 2010

Love them or hate them Draketrain is certainly one of the most well known corporations in the Gallente/Caldari war. I am very happy that Lacco agreed to take part in an interview. Enjoy!

Name: Lacco

Corp & Role: Draketrain, CEO

Militia: Caldari

What did you get up to before getting involved with Faction War and how did you come to form Draketrain?

Before draketrain was launched I participated alliance tournament VIII with Paisti Syndicate. They are very proficient at skirmish warfare, and the group culture had a slight tendency towards elitism. A part of the Paisti group with the support of old good ex-PERVS then decided to roll something totally different for a change, and draketrain was formed up.

What are your preferred ship types and gang set-ups?

Ship types don't play a role, neither the gang setups. The reason why we've choose drakes is because they can fight outnumbered, and almost everyone is able to fly them too.

What are your favourite things about Faction War? What is it that keeps you here over other areas of Eve in particular nullsec or piracy?

Draketrain is actually specialized into 0.0 pvp. Being part of FW adds a little flavor in the action, but alone is insufficient for our needs

Draketrain makes its home in Villore, which is Gallente High-sec and also main staging point for many Gallente Militia pilots, particularly the newer ones. You also make regular forays into Gallente Highsec to hunt targets around popular mission and trade hubs. What challenges do you have flying and basing out of areas with constant NPC Navy agro? Assumingly you have set up a reliable method for dealing with the NPCs and many would say that you use exploits to achieve this. What is your response?

If anyone is part of the FW, he/she should be aware that war is extended to high-sec aswell. The victims of high-sec plundering should keep in mind that if they are killed, it's not wrong. NPC provides some difficulties, and setting up for high-sec takes some time, but the methods we are using are no rocket science.

How would you reply to critics who say you simply hunt in high-sec to "gank noobs" rather than to pvp with the more experienced FW corps who are mostly flying around in low-sec?

It might be a timezone problem as well, but from my experiences gallente has offered a very little fights. Our usual fleet setup in comparison to gallente doesn't provide even matches for both sides, and therefore fights are not happening.

There is a strong belief within my own militia that Draketrain would never engage in a “fair” fight and will only engage when they know the odds are in their favour. Is this true? Do you always have a trick up your sleeve?

We work on principals of skirmish warfare tactics, and we will fight even if the numbers are twice or triple to ours if the ship types are suitable. We are interested in nothing else but fights, and I can blame gallente for having a little understanding on this issue. They have only battleship based gangs that are very immobile, mostly in close range setups too. Drake gang is perfect counter, and if there was a fight, I can imagine how it feels to sit like a duck in a battleship while drakes hammer down the range.

Draketrain, was formed following the closure of Space Perverts and Forum Warriors and includes many prominent ex-PERV members. Are you simply a reincarnation of the PERV corporation or are the two very different in their actions and goals?

Some ex-PERVS continue the traditions of FW in draketrain, but the corporations have a very little to do in the way of how they work. PERVS is a finnish corporation, with specified requirements and good reputation of highly innovative play. Draketrain is benefitting from these factors, but the outline of our corporation is to recruit everyone, become large, and use the power of numbers. Where as PERVS had very precise planning for ops, draketrain is more into weekly operations instead of working everyday for the object.

Your corp is often seen as a separate entity from the rest of the Caldari militia. Do you consider yourself a part of the militia or simply a corp that is doing its own thing? Do you ever work with other militia corporations or the general militia pilots?

The problem is that an open invitation results in badly fitted ships. After a couple of unsuccesful operations with general militia, I announced that if anyone wants to join they must be in given fit. A fleet is like phalanx and if half of the group have no spears at all, the phalanx doesn't work. I've led fleets with fewer numbers of people in the correct fits(even when fitted t1) that fight better than any militia blobs I've come across.

What is the reasoning behind the recent war-decs Draketrain have started against a number of Caldari Militia corporations? Recent forum postings (and I confess I only read them occasionally) suggest it is due to Caldari fleets teaming up with Gallente fleets in order to take down third parties such as pirates in the area. Why is this unacceptable to you?

Caldari fleet commander requested me to leave gallente alone. If this wasn't enough, after I had told the friends of gallente that we are not here to cease fire, I received bullshit mails from the fleet addressing that I'm an asshole. I think the biggest issue is that they are corrupting the militia system by tagging along with the enemy - how am I supposed to know who is on my side really? In addition there is nothing good to say about the behaviour of these heroes. If they want to break the principals of FW, and shout 'fuckoffs' if someone insists, then they have earned the wardec. No doubt about it.

Draketrain contains many pilots who were well known as prominent plexers in the past. The well-coordinated and dedicated efforts of the likes of Damar and Bad Messenger are credited with being largely responsible in the fall of all Gallente systems to the Caldari. Is system taking a goal for Draketrain?

Some ex-PERVS have tradition of doing the plexes, and it's alright with me. Draketrain as a corporation is not interested in capturing FW systems though.

You have some very strong willed and “loud” pilots in your corporation, many are known just as well for their forum postings as they are for their in-game antics. Do you find it difficult to have so many big personalities in your corp or is it all simply part of the fun of Draketrain?

I don't follow the forum posts, and the corporation doesn't have a policy towards what kind of posts should they make. Every member is part of building the image of the corporation. Difficulties that emerge from having big personalities are mostly for being emotional. Rage is untolerated in corp ops. Restricting public anger is keeping alot of group unhappiness away, and avoiding social crisis.

What does the future hold for Draketrain? Do you have future aspirations outside of Faction War or plans to swap militias in the future?

The focus is on 0.0. Latest in the early 2011 draketrain is going to have a titan, and with the jump bridge capabilities we will be able to develop new and more sophisticated ways to travel, cyno on targets, make surprise attacks and most of all have fun. There is no reason to switch or leave militia unless we are offered some very aspiring alliance membership.

If you could have CCP change one thing or make one improvement specifically for Faction War what would it be?

The system capturing system is shit. Nobody benefits from owning systems. I suppose CCP just wants to have made it so that every newb can capture a system and get a certain feel of accomplishment, but it doesn't make the current FW content any good. If the FW mission rewards were adjusted depending on faction system owning, and defending a system would be reasonable, it could add some depth to FW.

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